Taliban’s Top Diplomat Visits India for First Time Since 2021 as Regional Dynamics Shift

In a move that signals how fast the geopolitical map around Afghanistan is changing, Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban’s UN-sanctioned foreign minister, has arrived in India, marking the first visit by a top Taliban official since the group seized power in 2021.

Muttaqi’s trip, cleared by a UN travel waiver, is being closely watched across the region, especially by Pakistan, which has long tried to shape Afghanistan’s future and now finds its influence challenged by New Delhi’s growing engagement with the Taliban government.

India’s Foreign Ministry offered Muttaqi a “warm welcome,” with spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal saying:

“We look forward to engaging discussions with him on bilateral relations and regional issues.”

Muttaqi is expected to meet External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, following up on an earlier meeting with India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri in Dubai this January. Neither side has revealed the full agenda, but trade and regional security are likely at the top of the list.

Despite the outreach, India still hasn’t formally recognized the Taliban government. But the tone of the visit suggests that’s not stopping either side from exploring common ground.

The trip comes just days after Muttaqi attended a regional meeting in Moscow, where Afghanistan’s neighbors, India, Pakistan, Iran, China, and several Central Asian states, issued a rare joint statement rejecting any foreign military deployments in the region.

The statement was widely interpreted as a coordinated pushback against Donald Trump’s proposal to re-establish a US presence at Bagram Airbase, outside Kabul.

Muttaqi’s stop in India follows a string of diplomatic overtures, and a major milestone in Russia’s recognition of the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate rulers, making Moscow the first capital to officially do so.

For the Taliban, courting India is a pragmatic step toward breaking international isolation and securing economic partnerships. For India, it’s a delicate balancing act, maintaining influence in Kabul without crossing Western allies or legitimizing a regime still under UN sanctions.